NEW RECIPES

Southland Times, Issue 22915, 13 June 1936, Page 17

NEW RECIPES

TASTY SOUPS X The tired worker, dragging home at 5.30 on a chilly evening, hails joyfully a bowl of steaming soup. Hostesses, too, have discovered the possibilities of soup for parties or dances on cold nights. Soups are so simple to make, and offer such endless variety that you can be thrifty and original as well. You are sure to like— Cottage Soup. The very name of this soup suggests something attractive in the way of simple country meals in which all that is best in the country fare is included —vegetables fresh from your own garden, with the sun still upon them; rich, creamy milk and brown eggs! As it is made from a brown stock, take 11b of gravy beef and cut it up into small pieces, putting it into a casserole or a stew-jar with a lid. Add four pints cold water, salt, pepper, and stand aside to soak while you set about preparing the vegetables. Take an onion and a turnip and peel them both. Scrape a carrot and cut all into very thin slices. Also add two tomatoes and two sticks of celery. Add these to the meat in the stew-jar, cover it closely, and cook in a-slow oven for four hours. About an hour before serving, add 2oz washed rice to the mixture. If you are serving this at home, bring the soup to the table in the pot in which it was cooked, and don’t forget to prepare some sippets of toast to serve with it. Clear Tomato. As tomato soup usually appears in the form of a creme, the hostess will like to try this rather different recipe. Mix the following in a pan:—llb tomatoes, one carrot, cne leek, one small parsnip and a few pieces of celery (all cut up), sprig of thyme, parsley and a bayleaf, one tablespoon of vinegar, a few peppercorns, two or three cloves and -Jib. raw, lean beef that has been cut up finely or passed through a mincing machine. Add two whipped whites of eggs, crushed shells of same, and three pints of good stock. Whip all over the fire until boiling, and then draw the pan to one side and simmer gently for one hour without shaking or stirring. Strain carefully through a soupcloth, reboil and serve garnished with royal custard cut in fancy shapes. For the royal custard, mix one whole egg with one tablespoon of cream, pepper and salt. Strain into a buttered mould and steam gently until firm. After cutting up, wash in warm water before using. Of course, colouring matter may be added to the soup if you want it to look especially attractive. Thick Fish. For a good thick soup, this recipe is excellent. Take two outer stalks of celery, one large carrot, one large onion, one large potato, one sprig parsley, pepper and salt to taste, trimmings (skin and bone) from fish. Cut the vegetables into thick slices. Boil them in a pint of water until carrot is tender, but not too soft. Take out the carrot, pass the remainder through a sieve. Return liquid to saucepan and bring to boil with one pint of milk. Thicken by boiling and stirring for five minutes with a tablespoon of flour mixed with cold milk. Add a “hazel nut” of butter and a tablespoon of cream. Serve at once with chopped parsley and the cooked carrot cut in shreds as a garnish sprinkled on top. Uses For Venison One feels quite romantically like Robin Hood and his merry men when fresh-killed venison can take pride of place on the menu, and at this time of year there are many housewives who want to know of tasty ways in which to prepare the meat. Most popular, of course, is— Roasted Venison. Hang the venison for a few days in a cool, dry place, and then wash and wipe it. Beat it well and flay off the skin. Take bacon strips about 2in long, lard all over the fleshy parts, and roast or bake the meat, basting constantly with sour cream or butter and milk. Send to table with a sauce made by adding water to the bastings, skimming and straining, and adding pepper, salt and lemon juice. Venison Steak. From a small neck of venison neatly cut four or five steaks, removing part of the bone from each. Give each steak a good blow with the blade of the chopper, so as to flatten them evenly. Broil on a gridiron until done, and serve with red currant jelly. En Casserole. Venison cooked in a casserole is delicious. Take lib. venison, three small onions, one egg, loz. butter, flour, one teaspoon finely-chopped parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Remove all skin, fat and gristle from meat, chop finely and mix with chopped onions, parsley and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir in egg, season to taste, form into flat cakes and coat lightly with flour. Heat butter in casserole, put in steaks and cook gently for about 15 minutes. Boiled Venison. Many people prefer venison plainly boiled. Place the meat in a saucepan and cook until tender over a gentle heat with sufficient water to keep it from burning. When done, add butter, pepper and salt, and let it brown. Made Into Hash. For a change, venison hash is good. Cut the meat up .-mall and place in a saucepan with a tablespoon of butter. Simmer gently for five minutes, then add two tablespoons flour, a little chopped bacon and a few shallots. Simmer again until brown, then add sufficient stock to give it a creamy consistency and a bunch of parsley, thyme and sage tied together (or dried thyme and sage could be used). Cook very gently for abcut an hour, and remove grease before serving with toast round the dish. Bread Sauces Bread sauce is an important item on the menu. It is served with almost all kinds of game, especially turkey and chicken, and, if desired, with other roast meats as well. Here are some new and appetising ways of making it. Baked Breadcrumbs. Four ounces fine stale breadcrumbs, one small onion stuck with two cloves, half-pint milk, a little cream, small piece of butter, pepper and salt with care, tiny pinch of red pepper if liked. Put fine crumbs on a sheet of paper and place in fairly cool oven to dry. Turn over once or twice, but on no account must they be browned. Put into double saucepans with a little pepper and salt. Place in centre the small onion. Pour over the boiling milk and let it cook until milk is absorbed. Stir with wooden spoon from

time to time. If too thick add a little more hot milk gradually, remembering that cream and lump of butter have still to be added. Let it cook until well blended. Carefully remove onion and clove. Not a trace of them must be left in sauce. Stir in cream and add butter at the last, with a tiny pinch of red pepper if I liked. Keep very hot until the last moment. I The Devonshire Way. You will need 3oz breadcrumbs, J pint milk, 1 onion, teaspoonful salt, teaspoonful each of mustard and pepper, 1 clove and i rasher lean bacon. Method.—Place bread, milk, onion stuck with clove and bacon rolled in pan. Cover and place on side of range, and leave while the chicken cooks. Remove onion and bacon, add seasoning, beat well with fork and add one teaspoonful of Devonshire cream before serving. Consistency of Cream. Take a pint of milk and put it into a saucepan on the back, cool part of the stove, or on low gas jet. Into the milk put an onion the size of a golf ball, studded with three peppercorns and two cloves. Add one bay leaf, small sprig cf thyme and half a saltspoonful of salt. Saucepan should stand for 40 minutes and just simmer during the last 10 minutes. Meanwhile put crumbs of some white stale bread through wire sieve. After 40 minutes remove onion and other ingredients from milk, and add sufficient sifted breadcrumbs till sauce is of consistency of cream. Stir and bring to boil. Just before serving add piece of butter size of walnut. Well stir in and serve hot. Enough for four persons. With Slices of Bread. Put one medium-sized onion and 2 pint milk into a saucepan and bring to boil. Remove all crusts from two thick slices of stale white bread. Cut into quarters, and place in pudding basin. On no account must the bread be crumbled. Pour boiling milk and onion over bread. Season well with pepper and salt, and add a knob of butter about the size of a walnut. Cover with a plate and allow to stand i for 15 to 20 minutes. Then take out the onion, stir well, and if milk has been absorbed add a little more or, better still, a little cream. Stir again and put back in saucepan, and bring to boll, stirring all the time. Serve piping hot. Must Not Boil. Make fine white breadcrumbs, put into gravy tureen with white pepper and salt to taste and a piece of butter size of a large walnut. Place tureen with lid on in a warm place (not the oven) so that crumbs get hot through and butter melts. Into saucepan put milk with a medium-sized onion, stuck with 6 cloves <nd let simmer about 2 hours; strain on to breadcrumbs, squeezing onion to abstract the flavour. Stand in tureen in a warm place for about 15 mins. Well beat together before sending to table, but do not boil. Appetising Lemon Flavour. Use 3 tablespoonsful freshly made breadcrumbs, 1 small teaspoonful grated lemon rind, A pint milk, 1 teaspoonful butter, 1 teaspoonful cream, 1 small onion, 4 cloves, salt and pepper. Put milk and peeled onion, with cloves stuck in it, into saucepan and bring to boil. Add breadcrumbs and simmer for | hour, remove onion, add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in butter, cream and lemon rind, and serve hot. The lemon flavour makes the sauce very appetising. A West Country Method. One pint milk, two rounds bread about an inch thick, loz butter, one onion size of a walnut, two cloves, one dessertspoonful cream, little black pepper, good pinch salt. Boil milk and break bread into it. Peel onion and stick in cloves, add to bread and milk, also butter, pepper and salt. Simmer gently in saucepan with tight-fitting lid for about two hours, stirring occasionally. Take out I cloves; there will be no trace of on- ' ion by this time. Add cream and mix all well together. Serve very hot. This makes a tasty bread sauce, unlike the bread and milk variety that is so often served. Old-Fashioned Bread Sauce. Ingredients: Two breakfastcupfuls finely sieved white breadcrumbs, one saltspoonful powdered mace, half a saltspoonful salt, dash of pepper, teaspoonful grated onion, three breakfastcupfuls milk. Put ail into double saucepan, bring to boiling point, stir frequently. Add a big walnut of butter, and leave to cook slowly for an hour, adding more milk if too thick. Putting the crumbs into cold milk entirely prevents that “poulticey” taste. Celery Dishes Most people realize that celery is a vegetable rich in vitamins as well as of very delicate flavour; most people have eaten it raw, and a good many realize how delicious it is braised. But few people have bothered to make their families really appreciate it by trying variations on these two methods. While celery is cheap, then, treat yourself to a change in the menu. Celery Fritters. This is an unusual method. You cut the celery into short lengths, dip them in batter and fry in deep fat. For curried fritters, coat the cut lengths of celery all over with Bechamel white sauce, rather thick, flavoured with curry powder, let them get cold, dip them in batter and fry in deep fat. Fried. Cut the cooked celery into short lengths, dip them into egg beaten with a spoonful of stock or water, roll-them in breadcrumbs and fry them in butter or lard. A La Mornay. Lay the celery sticks in a dish, cover them with cheese sauce, which has been made with milk and some liquor in which the celery was cooked, and, if you like, brown very quickly in the oven or under the grill. Souffle. Celery puree mixed with Bechamel sauce, with the addition of a tablespoonful of grated cheese and a couple of eggs, makes a good souffle. With Tomato Sauce. Arrange the cooked celery-heads in a dish and cover them with a good thick tomato sauce. Sprinkle over a little grated cheese, if you wish. Bechamel Sauce. To made Bechamel sauce, take lloz butter, half a pint milk, half dessertspoon flour, parsley, nutmeg and salt to flavour. Melt the butter and fry the flour in it, then gradually add the boiling milk and other ingredients, stirring all the time. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes and strain.